I made itsy bitsy cards for Wednesday's Lady Anne's Site - Anything Goes. They are also being used for my ATC card swap at The Crafters Cafe. I wondered how I was going to confine my art to a 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 space but once I began, it really was NO different than making a 12 x 12 piece of canvas art. It was mega enjoyable.First I cut the cards - they are coaster thick cardboard in white, actually used for making coasters - to the required size.I then rounded the corners (my 14 year old noticed this and asked if this is allowed on an ATC.) I thought "Wow what a smart question - who knows?" But they are rounded.I then used Dyan's Dylusionals Mists and my Classic SU Reinkers with Water in Spray Bottles and went my usual Crazzzzzzzy!.Then, in my usual fashion, I put one card on top of the other and began again. The neatest thing happened. When I separated the cards, the one side was "as I created it," what Roben-Marie Smith so aptly called my jewel preference for my artwork, and the otherside.....WOWZERS.....it was this gorgeous pastel piece, just simply because I lay it on top of the deep wildly colored jewel colors. THAT IS A COLOR STUDY!!!!Picture it, on my table I had 14 ATC staked up - each card facing up jeweled with bright rich colors but not knowing what was happening beneath.Now I best show you what came of all this. As I am writing, I now know to take pictures of my process, something I love SO MUCH when I see it on other blogs. Promise!!!Here is a pic of the different color combos of the ATC's where I used SU stamps and India Ink with the above Mists etc.

The ATC's have some dictionary paper attached with Acrilex Gloss Gel. These are papers that were put under all my art as "catch the mess" papers.

The ATC's also have a mini SU tag with a SU stamp "friends"

Given these are cards for other's to use, I wanted to put a library stamp on the back so I could put my information, date, etc. as a keepsake for the recipient

I realized I had two cards stuck together so the "imprint" was reversed with the pastels on the front and the "jewels" color on the back with the library card.

This is another variation of the card

And...this is the best part!

The cloth is my clean up cloth and the paper is the newsprint that goes under my art to protect my desk.

How gorgeous do they end up!

Again, this is the newsprint only, that is beneath the work that I do. I always use this paper for pieces of my next art (such as I did with these ATC's on the edge with the dictionary paper.)

Stay tuned for future pieces of my art with the paper below on part of it! lol

AND....THIS is paper towel! Can you believe how gorgeous these colors are? This roll is for mopping up the colors after I spray them onto my art. When I use baby wipes, and then they are heat dried, they turn into fabric. You have to try it! I used them for a tab on a piece of art in a previous post.

I am still stoked about Roben-Marie's Workshop and am on Phase two of my Art Journal Conversion JOURNALS. It is completely different than my first JOURNAL but will take some time for me to show it to you. Here is page 3 of the first JOURNAL.I hope you are continuing to like it!Please pop over toRoben-Marie!

This is the front of my journal, which I will post each time.

This is page 3

These papers below are from a dictionary and were the papers that were behind my pages as I worked. The colors on them are the colors that were the "mess" that was created from my journal sprays etc.

The flower is made from Construction Paste that you use to fill holes in your wall, then sanded down.

The same with the corner, then I put a stamp into the medium. You really can use what is around the house.

These next two pages are the result of what was created on the pages before. These are the backs of the pages.

And the VERY cool thing: The Tab on my journal is made from the Baby Wipe I used to mop up my mists. It turned into a Fabric once it was dried with my heat gun over and over!

Loving what came out of the workshop. As you will come to see, I decided to do a motivational workshop for myself for my project in the Workshop. It has moved me forward to new ways of approaching my art. I am finding that Mixed Media is far less fearful, making messes is more comfy and using everything but the kitchen sink "is working" for me!